


All the Rowboats in Oil Paintings

by MiniNephthys



Category: Shin Megami Tensei II, 真女神転生IV | Shin Megami Tensei IV
Genre: Implied Slash, M/M, Spoilers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-30
Updated: 2013-07-30
Packaged: 2017-12-21 20:09:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/904378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MiniNephthys/pseuds/MiniNephthys
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A memory that is strong enough, or contains many lives, can live on (just barely) in the Expanse.  Spoilers up to the White.</p>
            </blockquote>





	All the Rowboats in Oil Paintings

"Stop. The White aren't that deep into this forest: going further will just get you lost."

Flynn and Walter stopped in their tracks as a voice rang out of nowhere in the colorless forest. Flynn was the first to speak. "Who are you?"

"I am a memory. An aggregation of many lives that stemmed from a single life. If I try to manifest physically, it only comes out as, well..." The voice seemed to clear its throat, and with a clatter, what looked somewhat like a Gauntlet attached to a blue visor fell to the ground. "It's not very useful, is it?"

"Are you a servant of the White?" Walter asked, cautiously eyeing the visor as if it might get up and attack them somehow.

The manifestation remained stationary, but the voice snapped, "Like hell. I share their sentiments about God, as does Lucifer, but he and I would rather do something about His rule instead of give up and destroy everything instead. The kind of Messiah the White want is a lunatic, not a Messiah."

Flynn picked up the Gauntlet-like object. It seemed inactive no matter what buttons were pushed. "Not very useful at all..."

"I'm just a memory of a dead man. A reincarnation of me is living somewhere in your world, and when he dies after a life of suffering, he'll be added to this part of me and another reincarnation will be born somewhere else. And... would you please stop pressing buttons, it tickles?" the voice asked.

Flynn stopped and set the manifestation down. "Sorry. What's your name?"

"I have lots of names. But the first one was Aleph." Aleph sighed. "Your demons look hurt. Lucifer offered to heal you, didn't he? You should probably take him up on that before you find another one of the White."

"We'll do that. Thank you, Aleph." Flynn nodded to the pile of gadgets and started heading back to the forest entrance, with Walter in tow.

Lucifer was subdued when they returned for healing, curing them and their demons of their wounds in complete silence.

"We spoke to a voice named Aleph," Flynn mentioned.

"Yes. I noticed." Lucifer frowned. "There is little he can do to aid me now, though he has offered on multiple occasions, including with my present condition. He lingers near me in the Expanse, yet I suspect my word would be enough to banish the accumulation of memories that is 'Aleph' and leave only his reincarnations, who I have no control over. Tell me, since you are fighting the White. A spirit with barely enough power to create a physical form and not enough even to move it, based on the memories of dead men with cursed lives- would kindness be to let him live on or to end his suffering?"

Walter's answer was immediate. "You can't decide that for him. Ask him what he wants if you please to hear the answer."

"That is the exact correct answer. ...However, I doubt I will ever ask, for that very reason."


End file.
